Thankful for a Successful Surgery

Recently, I shared with you all that Gage had to visit a pediatric neurosurgeon, and they decided that he needed to have surgery to have the cyst removed. Surgery was scheduled for Monday, September 10th, and plans were made for hubby and I to spend a few days in Atlanta around Gage’s surgery. That way, he wouldn’t have to travel 3+ hours right before or right after his surgery.

Last week was complete chaos, and part of me wondered if the surgery was even going to happen.

On Friday, the neurosurgeon’s office called me and said they needed to reschedule Gage’s surgery for another day. Not a good thing to tell a pregnant, emotional mother. I’m ashamed to admit that I had total meltdown on the phone with the poor scheduling nurse. But, we had already booked a hotel, scheduled a rental car, AND taken vacation time, so moving it just wasn’t an option. After freaking out with everyone that I could, the practice manager agreed to call me back and let me know what they could do.

Later that afternoon, he called me back and told me that Dr. Brahma agreed to do Gage’s surgery after the emergency patient. The only drawback was it meant that Gage wouldn’t be able to eat or drink all day. I knew Gage would be ok, because he had just survived that same thing on our last trip down.

On Saturday morning, hubby woke up with horrible pains in his back. He had every symptom of a kidney stone. By that afternoon, he was in bad shape. Sick as could be, and in so much pain. A trip to the ER proved that it was a kidney stone, and he could be in pain for a few hours, or a few days. Not exactly what I wanted to hear the day before we were supposed to leave for Atlanta.

Luckily, hubby woke up the next morning back to his old self, so the trip was able to go as planned. We arrived at the hotel around 7:30 Sunday night, and got Gage settled. The next day, we puttered around Atlanta while we waited for 4pm to get there.

Just before 2pm, the hospital called and asked if we could come in right away. The surgery before his was finished sooner than expected, and they wanted to get Gage in early. Since our hotel was right across the street from the hospital, we were able to be there in less than 5 minutes.

Then, we waited. First in the waiting room, then in Gage’s surgery recovery room. They made him comfortable, got him in a gown, and gave him some “happy juice” – medicine that would calm him down and allow them to give him the anesthesia. His nurses were incredible. They kept hubby and I calm and assured us they would take extra good care of our little boy.

Just before 4pm, they wheeled him back to surgery. Up until that point, I had been ok. But, once he was gone, my heart sank to my stomach.

Not 5 minutes after they had wheeled him back, the fire alarm went off. Lights were flashing, alarms sounding, people running around like crazy, and “Code Red” being shouted over the intercom. They shut us in Gage’s room and wouldn’t tell us what was going on.

It was at that point that I lost it. I hadn’t cried until that point, but I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know if Gage was ok, where the fire was, or anything. I was a mess. Luckily, hubby was in there with me, so he let me cry, and we prayed together. Less than 5 minutes later, the alarms stopped, and “All Clear” came over the intercom.

At 4:30pm, the surgeon came into our room to let us know that Gage’s surgery was complete. He said they were able to get the cyst out in one piece, but it wasn’t a dermoid cyst as they had originally thought. He had never seen a cyst like this one before, so they needed to send it off to pathology to find out exactly what was in there. He said we needed to come back to his office in 2 weeks to have the suture removed and get the pathology report. Another trip to Atlanta. Yippee. (sarcasm!)

A few minutes later, they wheeled Gage back. He was comfortably resting, and they told us to let him sleep off the anesthesia for at least 45 minutes.

Forty five minutes later, we tried waking him up. Poor thing was miserable. Wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t drink, just screamed and cried. I was terrified they were going to make him stay overnight. Luckily, he had an amazing nurse that knew he was ok, he just needed out of the hospital. Since he had taken 2 bites of Jello and kept them down, she got anesthesia to sign him out.

We got back to the hotel, and he was a completely different kid. He even ate more than I did! Hubby picked up pizza from Pizza Hut, and Gage ate 3 pieces of pizza and 2 breadsticks. Plus about a million goldfish crackers. Surgery must have made him hungry. 🙂

He does have a nasty cut from the surgery, but he hasn’t acted like it’s bothered him at all. Since we left the hospital, he hasn’t once acted like he was in pain.

I am so thankful that his surgery went so well. He didn’t have any complications or side effects from the anesthesia. He recovered super fast, and whatever was under the skin in his head is now gone. God is so good, and He kept His hand on my little boy the whole time.

I’ve called the office to schedule his follow up appointment. I’m anxious to find out what the pathology report reveals. I’m hopeful that it’s nothing, and that because they were able to remove it, we won’t have any further problems or surgeries. I will keep you posted.

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, emails, and kind words. I am certain they are what kept him so safe.

Now, I’m praying things can get back to normal around here… whatever normal is!

Angie is a wife and mother to 8. Her life revolves around cooking, cleaning, laundry, and other household duties. She is passionate about her life in Christ and wants to encourage other mothers in their own walk of faith. Angie is active on many social media networks, loves technology, photography, and graphic design, and loves creating blog designs for other mom bloggers.

I’m so thankful to hear his surgery went well! 🙂 God is Faithful all the time! 😉 Praying he recovers quickly! He is just precious! :)CHOA is amazing but that sounds like a scary experience with the alarms going off! I would have been freaking out as well! LOL!